Anime dream come true YuGiOh version
by Willow-Yanagi
Summary: A Yu-Gi-Oh fanfic
1. Part 1, Introduction

The ticking of the clock was slow and annoying. The breathing of your sister could be heard from the room next to yours. A dim light came through the small cracks of the two open windows, creating dark shadows on the laminate floor and the white walls.

The clock kept on ticking, it indicated it was 2.34 in the morning. You lay on your bed, your forehead and soft dark blond curls wet with perspiration. You sighed and crawled to your knees, yanking the window open. A warm breeze met with your face and the moonlight shone down upon you. There were no clouds in the pitch black sky and the stars proudly showed their beauty. You could stare at the stars the rest of the night - however short the rest may was - but that still wouldn't solve your sleeping problem. It wasn't like you had to go somewhere tomorrow since it was summer vacation, but a little shuteye would be more than welcome.

You closed the window and let yourself fall back down on the bed, the mattress moving along with you. You looked around in your room. A pile of wrappers from candy bars lay on your desk, since your bin was already piling out with paper. The content of your two pencil holders lay across your desk along with lots of drawings and stories and sketches.

'Maybe I should consider cleaning my room.' You raised an eyebrow at the mess. You shivered at the idea of cleaning that mess. Your eyes wandered off to the other aide of the room. Four fellow flow in the dark bears drew your attention. For a few seconds you wondered why you ever glued them to the closet. Then you noticed you couldn't focus your vision on them, no matter how much you tried, it remained blurry. You stepped out of bed with a stretched arm, reaching for the glow in the dark bears, or rather what you thought was in front of them. This blurry vision reminded you of some sort of invisible spinning portal. You have always had a vivid and rich imagination and whenever you had a crazy idea like this one, you just couldn't let go until you checked if it was just imagination – or more. Just like when you see little wounds on other people, you automatically make up a story about how it might have happened straight away.

You took a few steps closer to the closet, your bare feet making a soft stamping noise as they hit the floor. You were only able to see the four bears now, everything around them was black as the night sky. Just one step more. You stretched your fingers and your nails sank into the soft wood of the closet. You laid your whole hand against the closet to check again. You sighed. There was no portal.

'_What was I thinking?' _ you thought, _'like there would actually be a portal there.' _ You stepped back into bed. 'I have way too much imagination,'you whispered. You had hoped there was a portal the would lead to another dimension. Your biggest dream was to go to another dimension, step in one of your favorite animes. A smileappeared on your face and you had to force back a giggle. It was really ridiculous, but you wanted it so badly! With every fiber of your being, but things like those were impossible. Your smile disappeared. Everything you ever wanted was impossible. That was difficult to deal with sometimes. You had nothing in life. Nothing you wanted was possible. And given your past, it was surprising you hadn't fallen into a deep depression yet.

You shook your head and forced back some tears. Back to the sleeping problem, focus on the sleeping problem. 'That's it! I simply have too much energy left.' You stepped out of bed and stood in the center of your room. 'Time for some morning exercises!' You raised your arms in enthusiasm. 'Or is it night exercises now?'

You started jumping up and down, moving your arms along with your legs. The exercises lasted about 20 seconds, after that, you tripped over a book – one of many that lay scattered around the floor. You lay on the floor, panting, sweat running down, wettening your pajama.

'This is not working.' You sighed and sat up. You pushed some books out of the way and stood up, crawling back in bed again. You moaned in frustration – not sure if the frustration came from the fact you tripped or that there was no portal – and buried your head in your pillow, you hit the mattress with your fists. 'It's not fair. I really want it to happen…'

You rubbed the sleep out of your eyes. Dizziness crept over you as you slowly opened your eyes.

'When did I get up?' You wondered when you found yourself standing on the sidewalk. Behind you was a park, a large grass field with a few trees scattered around and a little lake in the center. A few benches stood beneath the trees and by the lake, looking empty and lonely. The reflection of the moon glittered in the water. In front of you were houses, but you didn't recognize the neighborhood. Everything looked weird, simplified, drawn. You raised your hands and looked at them. 'I'm drawn,' you mumbled. Your heartbeat rose and your eyes widened. It almost felt like you were choking, air hardly came in and you were warm. You felt light in the head, feeling like you could faint any second.

'Oh my God!' you whispered, still staring at your hands. 'This can't be happening! This isn't possible!' You started to laugh. 'Oh my God!' You danced around on the sidewalk, jumping in circles. 'Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes!' A few tears ran down your cheeks as you closed your eyes. 'Finally.'

You took a few moments to let it sink in and calm down. You were trembling with anticipation and couldn't stop smiling. A thousand thoughts struck your mind at the same time, most of them being questions. "How did I get here?" "Where is here?" "Am I dreaming?"

Loud male voices echoed through the street. Dark shadows on the ground crept around the corner, followed by five guys around the age of 18. They were dressed in black jeans, some of them wore matching black shirts, the rest had no shirt at all. Tattoos were visible everywhere over their bodies and they had daring haircuts. They walked with big steps, laughing and drinking as they crossed the street.

'_Oh crap,' _you thought, _'Please ignore me, please ignore me, please ignore me.' _

You pleading fell to deaf ears as they walked straight towards you. They circled around you and stopped, every single one of them had a smug on their face. One of them stepped forward. He looked at the guys with an amused expression on his face.

'Well, well, well. Who do we have here?' He spoke with a low voice. He reeked of alcohol. You raised your upper lip and frowned in disgust.

'Looks like a little girl is trespassing in our territory.' The others started to laugh, their postures calm but threatening.

'Guys, what do we do with people who dare to step into our territory past midnight?' He paused and looked you in the eyes. They were bright green, almost fluoscent. They were twinkling with amusement, but they stood dull in his face, betraying his drunkenness.

'Send them home with a warning?' you answered his question, blinking innocently with your light blue eyes. They burst out in laughing. They guy in front of you had to hold his stomach from laughing so hard, the muscles in his chest moving along. He shook his head and reduced his laughter to a smile.

'Wrong.' He raised his arm and hit the back of your head hard. Before everything went black – which took less then a second – you let out a high scream.


	2. Part 2, Amnesia

You slowly opened your eyes. The stinging pain in the back of your head immediately caught your attention. You sat up and brought your hand to your head. A bump. Dizziness crept over you and as you looked around, it was like the whole room was spinning.

The room – not particulary big, neither small – looked familiar. An open window of which the curtains were gently dancing in the wind, was next to the bed that stood in the corner. The closed wooden door was in the wall right to you. Left of that wall stood a desk, the papers, pens and other things on it neatly arranged. One of the three drawers stood open almost an inch, but not far enough to see what was inside. A little more to the left in th corner stood a broad and high, dark wooden closet. The top of that closet had detailed curles and leaves decoration engraved into it. Next to the closet hung a large mirror in which you would be able to see your whole body if you were to stand in front of it. It had a simple, but classic wooden frame. More to the left in the other corner stood another wooden closet, a smaller one, no doors, just four drawers. There were a few personal belongings on top of it. On the floor lay light blue tapestry, there was nothing to be found on the ground, no papers, no wrappers, no books, not even a single sock.

You regonized it as Yugi's room. In the show, they didn't show you much of his room, but it was enough to recognize it.

'He doesn't need to clean his room...' you muttered, still holding your head. There was a beating pain on the back of your head which was giving you a worse headache with every painful beat. 'God, I need an aspirin.'

Your heartbeat rose to its maximum, feeling like it could pop out any second when someone knocked on the door. You were suddenly so nervous you could hardly bring out words. Instead of a simple "yes" as answer, you made a weird little moaning sound. Apparently the person hadn't heard you and knocked again. 'Are you awake?' A familiar voice was heard through the wood of the door.

'Y-yes,' you stuttered, after taking a deep breath. The silver doorknob slowly turned to the left which made you swallow. The door opened, bringing a gust of wind along, stirring the papers on the desk. The short guy with tri-colored hair that defied gravity known as Yugi, stepped into the room. That immediately confirmed your previous assumptions.

'Hi,' you said, maybe a tad bit too enthusiastic.

'Goodmorning.' He smiled and put up his hand. 'How's your head? I saw there was a nasty bump there.'

You rubbed your head again, noticing your hand was still placed on the painful bump, which you were sure of would turn blue any moment now.

'Well, it hurts alright.'

'Maybe you will feel better after breakfast and an aspirin or two.' He smiled.

'That would be very welcome.' You noticed your empty stomach was already begging you for food with a rumbling noise.

'Would you like to freshen up first?' he asked, gesturing across the hallway, most likely to the bathroom.

'Thank you, but I think I will go for those aspirins first.' You rubbed the back of your head again gesturing the aspirin was needed, each movement only worsened the pain.

'I can imagine that.' He laughed, 'They hit you hard last night. Are you hurt anywhere else?'

'No, just a huge bump, thank you.' You pulled the blanket away and placed your bare feet on the soft tapestry and pulled yourself to your feet. You faltered as the room was still spinning, a jolt of pain shot through your head, making everything even worse. Yugi quickly grabbed you by the arms, preventing you from falling over. 'Are you alright?' he asked, his eyes worried.

'I'm okay, just dizzy.' You smiled at him as you firmed your grip aroun his arm, squeezing the rough fabric of his blue jacket together. He led you out of the room onto the hallway. You could see the stairs in front of you up to three times and it looked twice the true size.

'Ok, easy now, just one step at a time.' He led you down the first step.

'Have you always had three stairs?' You tried to focus your sight, attempting to fuse the three blurry visions of staircases to one sharp one.

He started laughing. 'Don't worry, you're doing fine, just lean on me.'

You took another step down. You were wondering if the tapestry on the staircase was green or blue as you slowly descended.

'So, what's your name?' Yugi asked and took another step down.

'I'm Willow.' You kept your head down, staring at the steps in front of you, which were dangerously seeming to move further away from you.

'I'm Yugi.' He stepped down on the white stone tiles at the bottom of the stairs. You looked up, an expression of content and relieve on your face clearly visible. He walked you through a door opening and placed you on an iron chair with dark blue pillows on the seating and the back leaning. You smiled as if to thank him and carefully breathed out. Yugi sat down opposite you, next to an older man you recognized as his grandfather. You looked up at him, with shifty unstable eyes, as if your were drunk – and smiled.

'Goodmorning sir,' you politely stuck out a slightly shaking hand. He shook it, a kind smile was formed by his lips, creating wrinkled in the corners of his eyes.

'I'm Willow,' you introduced yourself.

'I'm Solomon, but everyone calles me grandpa.' He let go of your hand. Yugi stood up and opened one of the closet doors, grabbing a strip of aspirins.

The kitchen looked even cleaner then Yugi's room. The worktop was plain grey and lay against the whole wall in front of you and bend into a corner to the right. Above and below the worktop were white wooden cupboards and drawers.

Yugi placed two aspirins and a glass of water in front of you and sat down again. You placed the two aspirins on your tongue and swallowed them with the water, disgust etched into your face as you felt the two round pills scrape past your throat.

'So, tell me, where are you from?' Grandpa asked. Yugi looked up at you in curiosity as well.

'_Oh crap!' _you thought. You went over this in your head thousands of times before you actually came here, almost always resolving yo lying about amnesia, but now that you were actually here in the flesh, the question truly asked to you in the face, you weren't sure if you were able to fake amnesia. But what else were you supposed to answer? You could hardly say you were from a different dimension and just visiting this one for fun. And if you gave them a name of a city or country, they would ask for a phonenumber of your parents or drive you there.

'Willow?' Yugi asked, seeing your troubled face.

'I..I..' you stammered, then frowned and placed your head in your hands. _'I can't believe I'm really saying this.' _you thought and rose your head again, one hand on your forehead as if hurt from thinking so hard. 'I don't know,' you softly whispered. The guilt of lying immediately struck you. Yugi and his grandfather exchanged worried looks.

'Do you remember where you live?' Grandpa asked.

'No,' you answered with faked panick in your voice, shaking your head heavily.

'Don't worry, it's amnesia from the blow on your head, but such things are almost always temporary. Let's start with what you can recall.' Grandpa spoke with a calmth in his voice which made you relax, but feel even more guilty.

'I know my name is Willow...' you started and took a moment to think of what you should and shouldn't "recall".

'I'm 16, born on April the 17th.' you shook your head, gesturing those were the only things you could remember.

'Don't worry.' Grandpa lay a comforting and sympathising hand on yours. 'it'll come back to you.'

You nodded, your hands shaking with nervosity and guilt.

'Now, eat something, it calmes the nerves and the fear. Also you must be starving.'

You grabbed a toast from a small white scale with blue flowers painted on it. You smeared it with butter and chocolate spread. You could really use some chocolate right now, cause as your mother always says: 'There isn't a problem you can't solve with chocolate.'

You took a bite, your teeth sinking into the soft layers of chocolate and butter, then through the crunchy toast beneath. You chewed fast and swallowed greedily, immediately taking another bite. You were really starving.

'What happened last night?' you asked after you swallowed the last piece of tasty toast.

'I was lying on my bed, I couldn't sleep and then I heard your scream cutting the silence, so I looked out my window to see what was going on, but all I could see were dark shadows of men reflected on the ground. I could hear distant chatter and laughter, so I went out to check it out. I saw you lying on the street – unconscious and a few silhouettes moving away, laughing and drinking.' Yugi explained.

'Thank you.' Tears gathered in your eyes.

'Don't mention it. Anyone would've helped.' His cheeks colored slightly red.

'No really, thank you.' You looked at him with wet eyes and smiled. He smiled back and quickly took a bite from his sandwich.

'I reckon you don't have anywhere to go,' grandpa stated after breakfast.

You shook your head, avoiding eye-contact by staring at the table.

'I'm sure you can stay here, right grandpa?' Yugi kindly offered.

'That's extremely kind of you, but I'll only be a bother, besided, you don't even know me...' you retorted. You really wanted to stay, but it felt weird to stay ar a stranger's house without paying or something.

'Don't worry about that, you won't be a bother at all. And you're a good person. I can see it in your eyes. They're kind and honest.' Yugi smiled.

'Are you sure?' you hesitated.

'Of course we are! Then you can help me around the house and the shop when Yugi's at school.' Grandpa winked.

You smiled and nodded. 'Thank you.' Tears forming in your eyes once more.


	3. Part 3, Welcome

You rolled over to your stomach and stretched your body. Your eyes felt heavy and you had to blink a few times to keep them open. You rubbed them to remove the sleep and looked on the clock. It was ten o'clock in the morning. Your headache had lessened, but wasn't quite gone yet.

You were lying on a soft mattress covered by a white sheet. A big, soft blue pillow restrained your headache and three thin blankets kept you warm. The fibers of the blankets were long and itchy, but complaining was out of the question. The mattress lay next to Yugi's bed, reducing the space in his room a lot, but he had told you he was okay with it and that there wasn't another room large enough to put a mattress in anyway.

You kicked away the irritating, itchy blankets and sat up, stretching your arms a second time. A yawn escaped your mouth and your felt fatigue creep over you. Getting up before noon wasn't really your thing to go, especially not in your summer vacation, but you figured it'd be rude if you stayed in bed the rest of the day.

You stood up and staggered out of the room, down the stairs. Down the staircase you turned left into the living room. A wooden table with five matching chairs stood in the closest corner at your left. In the farrest right corner stood a TV, surrounded by two couches and a chair in which you would sink away the moment you sat on it. A cute little coffee table stood between the TV and the couch. Some smooth, dark curtains hung to the sides of the large window in front of you. The net curtain softly danced in the smooth draught.

'Good morning,' Grandpa greeted. He was sitting on the large chair, a mug of steaming black coffee cradled in his hands. He hung his head over the rising steam, breathing in the smell of fresh coffee. A content smile was formed by his lips.

'The taste of freshly made hot coffee in the morning is priceless,' he said and took a small zip. The expression on his face showing he enjoyed every drop of it.

'Good morning.' You smiled, 'I wouldn't know about the taste of hot coffee in the morning, but with me a glass of milk and freshly baked toast is a perfect start of the day.'

'Is that a subtle hint for breakfast?' he laughed.

'Oh no, I wasn't…' Your cheeks turned red and the heat rose to your head.

'Don't worry, don't worry. I was just teasing you.' He placed his mug on the table in front of him and stood up. 'But I can imagine your hunger at this late hour. It's almost noon.'

'I actually thought it was early,' you replied.

'You usually stay in bed that long then?'

You had almost answered "yes" but you realized you were supposed to have amnesia. A feeling of disappointment came over you when you realized you couldn't tell anything about yourself or about your life. You had always been a very talkative person, actually you always had a hard time shutting up, but that shouldn't be a problem now cause there was a whole lot less to talk about not that you couldn't mention anything about yourself.

'I don't know. I guess so, since I still felt tired when I woke up,' you answered.

'Your memory is still gone then?' A sad, compassionate tone could be found in his voice.

'Alas, but it will come back, no use in forcing it.' You smiled.

He nodded. 'But we're forgetting your breakfast.' He turned and walked to the kitchen. 'Without it, you would have a bad start of the day.'

You laughed and followed him into the kitchen. He quickly placed two slices of brown bread in the toaster and pushed down the handle. A little red light lit up, indicating the machine was working. As the machine was doing its job, making a low humming sound as it did, grandpa poured some milk in a glass and placed it on the table in front of you. Before you could thank him, the red light died and the toast sprung up with a bleeping sound. He got them out of the toaster and quickly threw them on a plate before he burned his fingers. Waving his hand to cool it down, he put the plate next to the glass of milk.

'Watch out, it's hot,' he warned you, still waving his hand.

'Thank you.' You grabbed the glass in one hand and the plate in the other. 'Back to your coffee then, before it gets cold.'

You walked back into the living room and sat down on the couch, putting your plate and glass in front of you on the table. Grandpa sat down on his chair again, grabbing the mug and cradling it in both hands once more.

You quickly shoved a piece of toast in your mouth and washed it away with milk. Still half chewing, you swallowed.

'It seems you have forgotten your manners as well,' grandpa laughed.

You smiled, your cheeks turning slightly red. 'I'm sorry, I'm slightly hungry.'

'Slightly?' Grandpa laughed, shook his head and took a zip from his coffee.

You grabbed the second toast and carefully nibbled a piece of it. You folded your hands in your lap and made sure your mouth was closed when you were chewing, not that there was much to chew on.

'Now that's overdoing it.' Grandpa smiled and swallowed the last bit of coffee. He placed the empty mug on the table which produced a hollow sound.

You finished the rest of your toast, not too modest, not too greedily. It had already turned cold, but the warmth had left little drops of damp on your plate, soaking the remaining breadcrumbs. The same was with your glass, creating a ring on the wooden table. You wiped it away with the back of your hand as you picked up the glass. You wiped your hand dry on your jeans, leaving darker wipes in the already dark blue jeans and you finished your milk. The cold liquid ran down your throat and into your stomach, sending goose bumps up your skin.

'Now that we're both done, would you like me to show you around the city? Maybe it will trigger your memory if you see something familiar. And if it doesn't we might as well buy you a toothbrush and some clean clothes.' Grandpa stood up and showed a generous smile.

'You really don't need to-' you started, but he interrupted you.

'You don't expect we let you stay in our house without some decent clothes and a toothbrush? What kind of hosts would we be?' he joked, and grabbed his brown coat. He swung it around him and put his arms through the holes. He was still smiling kindly at you as he closed up his buttons.

'Okay…' you hesitated and walked up the stairs. 'Let me get my shoes.' You ran up, grabbed your shoes from next to your mattress, quickly put them on and ran back down again.

'Okay, I'm done.' You smiled.

You followed him down into the shop. Realizing no one had told you about it and you never asked, you said, 'You own a shop?' You looked around in the little, but cozy shop. On your right was the counter with under it all kinds of cards, boxes and accessories displayed behind glass. On the left and on the right were little wooden cupboards with shelves with stacks of cards. On the walls were posters of Duel Monsters and tournaments. It was a very small and simple shop, but something about it was appealing, the atmosphere was cozy and the shop had warm, inviting colors.

'Yes, this is my game shop. It's pretty small, I know…' Grandpa said, with hesitated pride in his voice.

'I love it!' you exclaimed. 'Big shops are overrated anyway, it's always the little shops where you find what you're looking for.'

Grandpa smiled at the enthusiasm in that remark and turned to open the door. You followed and he closed the red door with six little square windows behind you.

He showed you almost the entire city, giving background information and explaining details about streets and buildings. He bought you a toothbrush and some clean clothes. Two pair of basic blue jeans and a few shirts and tank tops, mainly just one plain color, mostly black. Of course he also bought you clean underwear. After you were done with your little shopping parade, you sat down on a terrace in front of a café to rest.

You sat down on the iron chair, it was actually quite cold and it sent shivers up and down your spine, but you didn't care, your legs were killing you. There were only a few other people sitting outside. A guy in his thirties who was working on a laptop and a young couple on your right who were enjoying a milkshake with two straws together, every time they moved forward to drink they looked each other in the eyes, saying "I like you" without words. The girl fumbled girlishly with her long, straight, hazelnut brown hair. The guy grabbed her hand beneath the table and blushed slightly. The girl squeezed his hand softly and smiled comforting at him.

'Ah, young love. Isn't it beautiful?' grandpa smiled at the sight of the two on your right. You nodded in agreement.

'What would you like to drink Willow?' Grandpa asked and examined the card with drinks in front of him.

'I'll go for the mineral water, thank you.'

Grandpa ordered with the waiter – a young man around 20 – and put the card away.

'So, tell me a little more about that game Duel Monsters,' you said to start a conversation.

'It's a very popular card game all around the world. A lot of tournaments are held every year. The game was invented by Maximillion Pegasus, he hand painted and designed all of the cards himself. Now, there are four different sort of cards, monster cards, special effect monster cards, magic cards and trap cards.' Grandpa explained. By the twinkles in his eyes and the passion in his voice you could hear he really loved the game. You showed and enthusiastic nod.

'Now the monster cards have attack and defense points, displayed at the bottom of the card,' he continued. You mouthed "thank you" at the waiter who placed a bottle of mineral water and a glass with ice cubes in front of you and a cup of steaming hot coffee in front of grandpa. Grandpa continued undisturbed.

'You can place your monster in attack or defense mode on the field. Your opponent can attack you or vice versa and the monster with the lowest points loses. If a person has no monsters on the field, his life points will be damaged and if a person has no more life points, he loses the game.'

You gave a few understanding nods. 'And the other types of cards?'

'Magic cards are used to power up your monsters or lower that of the opponent. Trap cards are, of course, meant to lure your opponent into a trap. A monster card with a special effect has, like the name indicates, a special effect. Usually when it gets destroyed the special effect is triggered.' Grandpa coughed deep and took a few zips from his coffee which was already growing cold. You poured you water from the bottle into the glass. The ice cubes made a ticking sound against the glass as they immediately rose up, interacting with the water and cooling it.

'So, have you always been a shop owner, since you know so much of the game.' You swallowed some water away.

'No actually. Back in my young days I was an archeologist.'

'Really? I love archeology! Especially Egyptology.' Immediately when you had said that, you knew you shouldn't have. You're not supposed to remember such things. Grandpa raised his eyebrows in surprisement.

'Seems like your enthusiasm and love for archeology and Egyptology triggered a little of your memory. Anything else coming up?' He asked hopefully.

You frowned as if thinking really hard. 'Uhm…' you started, not sure what you should say. To be honest, you could go on for hours about archeology and Egypt, but that was probably a little too much.

'I remember that I always watch documentaries about archeologists recovering tombs in Egypt. I love Egypt, I can't remember why, but I just love the history and all.'

Grandpa emptied his cup in his mouth and placed it back on the saucer. A loud noise of porcelain connecting with porcelain was heard. You quickly finished your water as well, giving you goose bumps and a slight brain freeze from the cold.

'Well, looks like my story telling has done something good for a change.' Grandpa smiled proudly and stood up. 'I will tell you a story of a dig down in Cairo 35 years ago on the way home if you want to.'

You stood up as well and grabbed the bags with your clothes. 'I like to listen to your stories.'

Grandpa pushed the key in its lock and turned it to the left. A soft click was heard and the door opened. Grandpa stepped in and looked at the clock. You entered as well, careful not to knock anything over with your bags.

'Yugi should be home in about 30 minutes.' He turned the little cardboard plate around, you could read the capital letters "CLOSED" on the inside.

'Why don't you go upstairs and freshen up? Use that new toothbrush of yours and put on some new, clean clothes. I'm sure that will feel much better. Then I'll stay here in the shop in case any customers come in.' Grandpa said and walked to stand behind the counter.

'That will indeed feel better.' You smiled and went up to the living room and then further up to Yugi's room. You picked a pair of jeans and a black tank top and some clean underwear and of course your toothbrush and went into the bathroom.

It was a fairly small bathroom. On the left was a white bathtub with shower and a light blue curtain around it. On the right in the far corner was a toilet, one roll of toilet paper stood on it and another hung from the wall. In front of you on the right was a washing table with a large square mirror about it. On the floor were grey tiles with a white hairy rug in the center. The tiles on the wall were small, light blue squares.

You stood in front of the mirror and placed your toothbrush on the washing table. You looked at yourself in the mirror for the first time. Flowing blond locks went down passed your waist, they weren't curly, neither straight, more like waves. Crystal blue eyes with a dark blue edge dominated your entire face. They stood out and it was the most remarkable feature about your face. They looked beautiful and elegant. People had always complimented you about your eyes. About your hair as well, mostly because of the length and the weird wavy, fuzzy curls, but still taken good care of.

You tied your hair up in a knot so it would stay dry under the shower and undressed. The warm water was more than welcome as you were already starting to feel dirty. You let the water pour down on you, cleaning your body.

You stepped out of the shower and grabbed a big, soft blue towel from the cupboard beneath the washing table. The soft fibers rubbed your skin dry. You put on your brand new clothes and released your hair from the knot it was in. It sprung down, the shorter part falling in your face. You brushed your hair with a brush you found in one of the cupboards and went back to Yugi's room across the hallway and dumped your clothes on the mattress. You hurried back down to the shop where grandpa was still standing behind the counter.

'And? What do you think?' You stood in front of the counter with spread arms and slowly twirled around, showing your new outfit. Grandpa laughed and said, 'You look beautiful Willow.'

'Thanks.' You smiled, happily taking in the compliment. You joined him behind the counter. 'Funny, I don't think I have ever looked at a shop from behind the counter.'

'Well, it's not as exiting as it might seem, there aren't many customers at this time of day.' Grandpa smiled.

Before you could reply, the little bell rang, indicating someone opened the door.

'I'm home!' Yugi shouted as he and his friends walked in. A flack of nervosity came over you as you realized you were about to meet his friends. And on top of that, the first episode had started.

'And I see you brought company.' Grandpa smiled at Yugi's friends.

'And this is the girl, Willow, I told you guys about.' Yugi pointed at you.

'Hi.' You held up your hand, waving softly and blushed slightly in shyness.

'Willow, these are Tea, Joey and Tristan.' He pointed at his friends. 'Guys, this is Willow.'

'Nice to meet you,' Tea said politely, shaking your hand.

'Likewise,' Tristan added.

'Yeah, any friend of Yugi is a friend of mine.' Joey reached over the counter and hit you on the shoulder.

'Gramps,' Yugi started after the introductions. 'Could you show my friends your awesome super rare card?'

'Rare card? My special card? Hmmm…' Grandpa rubbed his chin thoughtfully.

'Please!' Yugi begged, making a little bow in respect.

'Pretty please?' Joey helped, bowing as well.

'Hmmm…' Grandpa repeated teasingly. 'Haha, how can I refuse?' He reached beneath the counter and placed a small wooden box on the counter. 'You kids are in for a treat. I don't take this card out too often.' He placed his hand on the box with his thumb on the edge of the lit, ready to open it. 'Ready?' he asked. Everyone moved in closer as he opened the box. 'Here it is.' He held up a card. 'The Blue Eyes White Dragon. So rare, so powerful, I never let it leave my hands.' The pride could be heard in his voice and seen on his face.

'Awesome.' Everyone stared at it in awe.

'It doesn't look all that special to me.' Tristan grabbed the card out of his hands and took a closer look at it with an awkward look on his face. Grandpa immediately snitched it back, cradling the card in his hands and turned his back on them to protect the card.

'This card is priceless! There are only four of them in the world!'

'Speaking of priceless, I'm ready to trade!' Joey exclaimed in enthusiasm.

'Not for this card.' Grandpa placed the card carefully back into the box.

'No, I didn't mean that card,' Joey replied, 'I mean show me some other cool cards to get me started.'

You looked up when the little bell above the doorpost rang. You saw a tall figure dressed in blue, you recognized as Seto Kaiba, standing in the door opening. A large iron briefcase in his right hand.

'Hi.' You smiled at him kindly, your pearly, vivid blue eyes meeting with his cold, darker blue eyes for a few brief seconds. He gave you a strange look and frowned slightly, then turned his attention to the others who had turned around.

'Hello, can I help you?' Grandpa asked politely.

'If you can't, it certainly wouldn't surprise me.' Kaiba had a weak smile on his face that looked cold and emotionless, but also showed a slight hint of arrogance.

'Seto Kaiba!' Yugi exclaimed in astonishment.

'Kaiba!' Joey repeated, evenly surprised.

'Doesn't he have a big fancy company to run? What's he doing here?' Tristan added.

'Not that it's any of your business, but I came to see the card.'

'Okay, I'm lost. You know this guy?' you asked, no one in particular.

'That's Seto Kaiba, he goes to school with us. He owns Kaiba corp. He's the manager.' Tristan explained.

'That's quite an amazing accomplishment,' you complimented him. 'Nice to meet you, Seto.'

He looked surprised by that remark, but quickly brushed it off as unimportant.

'Anyway,' Joey interrupted to get back to the previous subject. 'I didn't know you were in to Duel Monsters too. That's perfect! Maybe we can all duel together some time.'

'Me, duel you?' Kaiba let out a cocky laugh, 'I'd have more of a challenge playing Solitaire. I'm the number one-ranked duelist in the country and the favorite to win the Duel Monsters Championship. You wouldn't last two minutes in a duel against me.'

'Wooh, I'm shaking, maybe you would like to settle this with fists instead of cards.' Joey already rolled up his sleeves and attempted to step up to him when Yugi jumped in front of him to stop him.

'Take it easy Joey,' he said.

'But Yugi, Kaiba's asking for it,' Joey said.

'Now does this shop have any worthwhile cards or not?' Kaiba asked, ignoring Joey completely. His eyes widened and he looked completely stunned as he stared at the little box on the counter. He suddenly rushed forward, pushing Tea and Yugi away to see the box containing the Blue Eyes White Dragon card.

'Can it be? The legendary Blue Eyes White Dragon in a dump like this?' he exclaimed.

'Well, enough window shopping. Is there anything else I can help you with?' Solomon asked.

Kaiba growled, clearly annoyed by the old man and threw his briefcase on the counter and opened it. Solomon stared in awe at the large variety of cards in the briefcase.

'Listen to me old man, give me your Blue Eyes White Dragon card and I'll trade you all of these.'

'Wow!' Tea, Yugi, Joey and Tristan exclaimed.

'Ah nice, but no thanks,' Solomon answered with a smile.

'Fine, if you won't trade, maybe you'll sell it. Name your price. I can pay anything you'll ask,' Kaiba continued, reluctant to give up.

'I'm sure you could, but this card is worth more to me than you could ever offer. Not because of its power or because it's so rare, but because of what it means to me. This card is given to me by a dear friend and so I treasure this card as I do that friend. So parting with it is completely out of the question,' Solomon explained.

'You'd do the same if it was a common card, right grandpa?' Yugi asked.

'Exactly.'

'Fine! I've heard enough of this nonsense.' Kaiba slammed his briefcase shut and walked out, muttering 'Senile old fool.'

You looked at him stepping into his limo and driving off. 'Charming guy,' you said.

'Yeah, tell me about it.' Joey agreed with you, then shook his head. 'Let's just forget about that guy already and have some fun.'

Grandpa showed and traded Joey some cool new cards and after that you all went upstairs to the living room, leaving grandpa down in the shop.

The guys sat down around the table to play a duel, while you and Tea sat down on the couch.

'I heard you were hit on the head, are you alright?' Tea started a conversation.

'I'm alright, the headache is almost gone. It's the amnesia that's sort of annoying.' You smiled.

'Yeah, I reckon it must be troubling not knowing who you are or where you come from. But it will come back to you I'm sure of it. In the meantime you have already met some new friends right?' she said, trying to take out the positive things of the situation.

'Exactly,' you laughed. 'So tell me a little more about yourself.'

Tea told you about she wanted to be a dancer later and that she was now working as a waitress in a café. The rest of the day you and the others talked to get to know each other a little more. You even got to play a duel against Joey with Yugi's cards. To everyone's and your surprise, you won.

You were amazed everyone was so kind and welcoming. Immediately talking to you and showing interest in you. You hoped the rest of your stay was as welcoming as this first "episode"


	4. Part 4, Solomon VS Seto Kaiba

You slowly opened your eyes as someone was softly trying to shake you awake. 'Hmm?' you mumbled.

'Good morning Willow.' Solomon's eyes greeted yours.

'Morning,' you yawned.

'Will you join me for breakfast?' he asked.

To be perfectly honest, you had a strong urge to decline, since you were still tired as hell, but since he asked so politely and kind, how could you refuse. You rubbed your eyes and turned around onto your back. You sat up, still rubbing your eyes and squinted at the clock. _'Gosh, it's even earlier than yesterday,'_ you thought as you saw the nine and two zero's.

'Of course,' you answered and crawled to your feet.

You noticed Yugi had already left for school when you came down into the kitchen. The table was already set. Grandpa sat down opposite you, smiled and started smearing a toast with butter.

Not really being hungry, you figured you should eat something anyway before questions were asked. You grabbed a toast, smeared it with butter and strawberry jelly and ate it slowly.

Solomon raised his wrist and looked at his watch. He quickly swallowed away his last bit of coffee and stood up. 'It's time to open up the shop. Will you assist me Willow?' he asked, putting the dirty dishes into the sink.

'Of course,' you answered and followed his example, holding your dirty plate and glass under the stream of water for a few seconds and placed them next to grandpa's.

You helped him clear the table and then went up to get washed and dressed. You put on the same outfit as yesterday and tied your shoelaces. You took one more look at your mattress that lay so comfortable this morning, and went down to the shop. Grandpa had already opened it and was standing behind the counter as usual.

'So, what can I do for you?' you yawned.

'Can you fill those empty shelves over there with these?' He put two cardboard boxes on the counter.

'Okidoki.' You piled the boxes and grabbed them firmly with two hands. You knelt down in front of the cupboard with the empty shelves and started filling them with cards and all kinds of other stuff from which you didn't know what they were.

You heard the little bell ringing again and you looked up at three men.

'Good morning,' Solomon greeted.

You recognized the men, two were large and dressed in black suits, the one in the center was smaller, and quite ugly to your opinion.

'My master Seto Kaiba challenges you to a duel. You will come with us now,' the man in the center spoke.

'And if I were… to decline?' Solomon asked suspiciously. You stood up and took a few steps back, looking at grandpa with a worried look on your face.

'I'm afraid I must… insist,' the short man replied. The two big men by his side reached into their black jackets and presented guns.

'Very well then.' Solomon walked up from behind his counter.

'I'll come with you.' You followed him.

'I'm afraid Master Kaiba only asked for the old man.' The short guy raised his hand to gesture you should stay. You looked at him for a moment, than at the guns of the guys beside him. _'Toughen up Willow. It's not like you can die in a dream anyway.' _You swallowed and then came closer to the short guy, looking him in the eyes with a firm look. 'I said I'd come along, tough guy.' You practically spat the words at him. Before he could answer you followed Solomon and stepped into the limo.

'That was very brave of you Willow, but be careful with these guys.' Grandpa lay a comforting hand on your shaking one. The short guy with the two bodyguards stepped in as well and sat down opposite you. He looked at you, frowning, obviously displeased with you coming along. You raised an arrogant eyebrow at him and turned your face away. _'This must have been the most impulsive thing I have ever done in my life. I thought for sure I was gonna be shot or die of a heart attack.' _you

thought as you slowly breathed out to calm down.

The limo slowed and stopped, the door of the car was opened for you and you and grandpa stepped out. In front was a large building, that reached high into the sky. It had a lot of little square windows and way on top you could see the letters "KC" standing for Kaiba Corp. You were led – better said pushed – inside and there Kaiba was standing in a door opening, waiting. He looked surprised and annoyed at the same time.

'I thought I told you to only bring the old man here.' Kaiba looked at the short guy.

'I'm sorry master Kaiba, but she followed us to the car and –'

'Never mind,' Kaiba interrupted him.

Being in brave moment already and felt like nothing could bring you down now, you stepped up to the door opening and faced Kaiba. He looked down on you – literally, since he was about 1.86 and you were only 1.64 – his eyes looked undefined.

'What do you want?' he asked irritated. 'And the who the hell are you anyway?' he added, before you could answer his first question.

'I'm Willow and you should remember that name.' You stood on your toes to look him in the eyes.

'And why is that?' he asked disinterested.

'I believe you're going to have to say that name a lot.'

'I can't imagine that, since I'm pretty sure I won't have to see your face ever again after today,' he said with a low voice.

You smiled at that remark. 'Trust me, this won't be the last time, master Kaiba.' Your eyes glided over his body, going all the way down and then back up again, giving him a challenging but tempting look with your blue eyes. 'Always a pleasure.' You smiled, and walked into the room on the other side of the door opening. Being pretty sure no one could see your face right now, you mouthed "oh my God" to yourself. _'Where the hell did I get the courage to say that?!' _

Kaiba turned and followed you into the room.

'This way please.' The short guy led Solomon into the room as well.

A low sound was heard and bright lights were switched on, illuminating a large duel stadium in the center of the room, surrounded by benches meant for an audience to sit and watch. You stood still in front of it and stared in awe. It was really big up close and you always felt intimidated by large structures, or anything that's high up, like an air balloon that's about to land, it looks huge and is really close to the ground, that sight always send shivers down your spine.

Kaiba walked passed you, making eye contact for a few seconds. His eyes betrayed his feelings that he would very much liked to kill you right now.

'Good luck, Seto.' You chose to act better than that and gave him a kind look in return.

He raised one corner of his mouth, showing his arrogance and muttered, 'It's the old man who's gonna need luck.'

You walked up to Solomon and gave him a worried look. 'Are you going to be alright up there?'

'I'll be fine Willow. I'm going to teach this Kaiba a lesson. Don't you worry about me now.' He stepped onto the platform and it was raised up. You walked up a few benches and sat down to watch, even though you already knew the outcome of the duel, you were still nervous.

The duel lasted about a half an hour. Grandpa busted some pretty good moves, but Kaiba was still better. When he summoned his Blue Eyes White Dragons, grandpa was overwhelmed. The expression on his face was one you would never forget; it was etched with astonishment and fear.

The duel was over and Kaiba turned away his head with a cocky smile and the platforms were lowered. You ran up to grandpa who looked fatigued. You helped him off the platform, supporting his weight by wrapping his arm around your shoulders. Kaiba gestured at the short guy and walked away. You figured he would make that phone call to Yugi now.

The short guy walked up to the doors and opened them. You helped grandpa out of the room and down the three little steps. Unfortunately, you tripped over the last step yourself and you fell over with grandpa. He lay on the floor moaning, gripping for his heart, as if to relieve pain.

Tears gathered in your eyes. 'Oh my God. Are you alright? Say something.' You knelt down in front of him, trying to help, but you didn't knew how. Seto appeared in the door opening, his hands in his pockets, staring down at you with a neutral expression on his face. You looked at him with tear filled eyes, words formed in your head but you had no idea how to say them. A door on the other side of the hall opened.

'Grandpa!' Yugi screamed.


	5. Part 5, Yami VS Seto Kaiba

'Grandpa! Grandpa! Are you okay?' Yugi knelt down before him.

'Yugi, I failed. I wanted to teach that boy Kaiba a lesson about the heart of the cards but I lost.' Solomon spoke with the pain in his voice. Kaiba was still standing in the doorway.

'How's the old man feeling?' he asked, with an actual smile on his face.

'Kaiba! You sleaze! What have you done to him?' Joey stepped forward with a threatening fist raised.

'We had a duel, that's all. With each of us putting up our most valuable card as price, but I guess playing against a champion like myself was just too much stimulation for the old fool.' Kaiba laughed with those last words.

'Kaiba! You should be ashamed of yourself!' Tea pointed an accusing finger at him.

'It was fair. And look at the sweet price I won,' Kaiba held up the Blue Eyes White Dragon card and, to everyone's surprise, tore it. The two pieces floated to the ground.

'That was Grandpa's most treasured card!' Yugi exclaimed, almost crying.

'Yes, the Blue Eyes White Dragon is indeed a rare and powerful card,' Kaiba agreed, 'and this one will never be used against me.'

'My Blue Eyes White Dragon! My treasure!' Solomon held out is arm, reaching for his torn up card he treasured so much, he then grabbed his chest again, trying to relieve the agonizing pain.

'Grandpa! Hold on!' Yugi started to panic, not knowing what he should do to stop his grandfather's pain. 'How could you do such a thing?!'

'Yugi, here. Take this.' Solomon held up his deck with a shaking hand. 'I built this deck, I put my soul into these cards and I taught you everything I know. Yugi, take them. Take my cards and teach him respect for the heart of the cards.' His voice trembled and he sounded like he could faint every moment now.

'But grandpa, you need help. I gotta get you to a doctor,' Yugi hesitated.

'Sounds like an excuse to me,' Kaiba interrupted, 'Your friends can take care of your grandfather Yugi, while you and I duel, unless you're afraid.'

'Trust me, you're not that intimidating,' you retorted. You were still supporting grandpa as he was lying on the ground.

'Take him Yugi!' Joey screamed from behind you, 'We can take care of your grandfather while you take care of creepy Kaiba. Teach that rich spoiled brat what a real duel is all about!'

'Do it for your grandpa!' Tea agreed.

'I don't know...' Yugi looked at his grandfather with a sympathizing look on his face, obviously reluctant to leave him.

'Trust me! You're like the best player I've ever seen and you've got the millennium puzzle! You can do this Yugi! I know you can!' Joey encouraged him.

'We all do!' Tea added.

'Yugi,' you started and he looked up at you. 'Everyone is behind you, including me and your grandfather, trust me,' you lay a hand on his arm, 'you can do it.'

Yugi nodded, 'Okay grandpa, I'll do it!' He took his grandfather's cards.

'I know you will, my boy.'

You and Yugi stood up.

'Everyone put your hands together and I'll mark us with a special sign.' Tea held up a black marker and pulled off the top. You weren't sure if she meant you as well, since you knew them for like one day. You stood there, hesitating as everyone put his hands against Tea's.

'Willow,' she said and made a gesture with her head, telling you should join as well. You walked up and put your hand next to Yugi and Joey's. Tea drew a happy face on the surface of all your hands.

'What gives, Tea?' Joey stared at his hand with a confused look on his face.

'It's a symbol of our friendship, so when Yugi's dueling, not matter how tough it gets, he'll know that he's not alone. We're all right there with him!'

You heard the sirens of the ambulance draw nearer. Joey, Tristan and Tea carried grandpa to the ambulance, you stayed behind with Yugi. Not specifically because anyone told you, but because grandpa was already being helped by three people and you sort of wanted to see the duel.

You followed Yugi back into the room where Seto and grandpa had dueled just minutes ago.

Yugi stepped onto the platform, as Kaiba did and they were raised.

'I designed this virtual stadium myself. Impressive hmm? I think you'll agree it adds a bit more life to the game. We each begin with 2000 life points. First player to hit zero loses! Are you ready to play runt?' Kaiba boasted.

'Playtime is over, Kaiba!' The Millennium Puzzle around Yugi's neck started to glow and he changed into the spirit of the puzzle.

'What the...?' Kaiba exclaimed, obviously noticing something had changed, but not sure what.

You never understood why Seto Kaiba said that, since no one really actually noticed that Yugi changed into Yami all the time. Not even Yugi himself. Not until later on in the show that is.

'Now Kaiba, prepare yourself cause it's time to duel!' Where was once a young little voice of Yugi, was now a low more mature voice of Yami.

'Virtual systems ready!' Kaiba's voice activated the systems and a few lights lit up. The red digits of the computer that hung from the ceiling showed each of their life points. 'So let's begin!'

Kaiba opened the game, throwing up a card. The virtual monsters that appeared on the stadium were amazing. Each detail, each claw, each fang was carefully made and displayed. The holograms could even move and the special effects of the magic and trap cards were astonishing to see. If you didn't know better, you wouldn't believe it were holograms.

Joey ran up to you, looking up at the big holograms. 'Monsters?' he exclaimed shocked. 'Real monsters?' He stopped in front of you, still gazing up at the magnificent monsters.

'They're virtual holograms,' you said.

'Right.' Joey tried to brush off the shock, but still looked a little shaken.

Kaiba went on boasting about his virtual system, explaining how everything worked and how amazing it was. You just couldn't resist making a comment on that, though you weren't sure why, you had only spoken to him once briefly, but already liked to piss him off by just speaking to him.

'And you created it all by yourself?' you asked, genuinely amazed.

'I did.' Kaiba looked irritated by you interfering with his explanation, but you could hear the hint of pride in his voice.

'Did it take you long?' you asked, when he was just about to continue with his story.

He glanced down at you. 'You just won't shut up, will you?'

'I told you, you should remember my name, you're gonna need it.'

He let out an arrogant "hmpf" sound and went back to the duel.

'He didn't answer my question,' you whispered at Joey.

'I don't think he's going to, Will.' Joey softly patted you on the shoulder as a vague sign of comfort.

You decided to remain silent the rest of the duel, since Yami was having a tough time with those three Blue Eyes White Dragons already, you didn't think he would appreciate it if you interrupted by saying something that didn't matter anyway. Joey watched the duel with great amazement, he wasn't even able to stand still. You on the other hand had no patience whatsoever and given the fact you already knew the outcome of the duel, you weren't really that amazed. You weren't bored, but your amazement for the holograms sort of faded after the first duel you witnessed.

After the duel, Yami did his mind crush and Kaiba fell to his knees on the platform. You could see Mokuba on the other side of the dueling arena. He looked worried and rushed over to his brother. The platforms were lowered and Yami stepped off.

'Way the go, Yugi!' Joey hit Yugi, in who he already changed back into, on the back with great enthusiasm.

'Great duel!' You softly hit him against his shoulder. Yugi blushed a light shade of crimson and nodded. 'Now, let's go see if your grandfather's alright.'


	6. Part 6, Pegasus

'Can you hand me another piece of tape please?'Grandpa held the poster firm against the wall by the two upper corners as you tore off another piece of tape. You reached up to give the little piece of transparent tape to him.

'Hey grandpa, I brought you a new student.' Yugi and Joey walked into the shop. Grandpa and you looked up.

'Huh? Student?' grandpa asked surprised as he stepped down from the little stair he was standing on.

'I was hoping since you know more about duel monsters than anyone, maybe you could teach me,' Joey said.

'Teach you? Duel monsters is a very complex game,' grandpa retorted and put the little stair behind the counter.

'Yeah tell me about it, Tea beat me 3 games in a row,' Joey agreed with him, with a serious look on his face.

'Actually Tea beat you 5 times in a row, Joey,' Yugi corrected him with pleasure. You forced back a giggle as you unpacked a box with newly arrived duel monster cards.

'5?! Ah man!' Joey's serious face changed into a face flustered with shame and defeat.

'Yes I could teach you to be a great tournament duelist, but only if you're willing to spend endless days and sleepless nights filled with rigorous training.' Grandpa's eyes showed he meant business and he crossed his arms to emphasize it.

'Wah, piece of cake.' Joey stood up straight and showed a proud smile.

'You shouldn't have said that,' you whispered and smiled.

'With an attitude like that teaching you may not be worth my effort.' Grandpa turned away his head.

'Nice going there smart mouth!' Yugi smashed his elbow against Joey's arm.

'Told you so,' you added.

'Please Yugi, help me convince him! I will work hard! I promise!' Joey dropped to his knees in front of Yugi.

'Listen Joey, teaching you duel monsters is too big a challenge. Even for my grandpa,' Yugi said on a provoking tone.

'It's not impossible...' Grandpa retorted.

'You mean it gramps?' Joey asked, looking up at him with hope in his eyes.

'Joey, he already said he can't do it, and if he can't do it, he can't do it.' Yugi shook his head.

'I never said I couldn't do it!' grandpa exclaimed, almost offended that someone could think he couldn't do it, 'but if I agree you must work hard!'

'I'll do anything! I promise! I promise!' Joey quickly said.

'Fine, then we will begin your instruction immediately, my young friend and believe me under my tutoring you will learn!' The tone in grandpa's voice was almost diabolical as he bowed over Joey who was still sitting on his knees on the floor before him. 'Now can you name the most powerful duel monster?'

'Uhh...no...' Joey sounded almost afraid to answer.

'Can you name the weakest?' Grandpa continued.

'No...' Joey answered, panic started to rise.

'You do know what a trap card is, don't you?'

'Kinda…I have no idea.'

You smiled and shook your head. 'Grandpa's gonna have so much fun with this.'

A few weeks later, Tea Tristan and Joey came over to watch a duel monster tournament on TV. You sat down between Yugi and Joey and placed your glass of water in front of you on the table.

'Good evening duel fans and our ten million viewers at home and welcome to the duel monsters duel dome. Where tonight the duel monsters regional championship will be decided. Of the two hundred duelists that have competed in this marathon tournament only two competitors remain standing. Put your cards together for Weevil Underwood, the bug brawer. His opponent, the number one rank Rex Raptor, dino duelist.' The TV sounded. You stared at the TV as you grabbed your glass of water and took a zip from it.

'Bug boy versus dinosaur breath? What kind of match is that? It should've been me in there!' Joey flapped his arms up and down in frustration, hitting your glass in the process. Water splashed into your face as you were still holding it close to your face. You let out an irritated sigh and glanced to the side at Joey.

'Joey, if you don't sit still from now on, I will throw the remaining water in my glass, in your face, understood?' You spoke with a firm voice and looked with serious eyes, but everyone could see the twinkles of fun in your eyes betray you weren't really irritated.

'You wouldn't dare.' He moved closer to your face in a challenging way.

'Try me, tough guy.' You moved closer as well, touching his forehead with yours. You two held on for about three minutes, staring at each other challengingly, until Joey moved away and crossed his arms. 'It still should've been me.'

'I know you've been training for weeks, but those guys are in an other league. You're just not ready yet,' Tea responded.

'Sure rub it in!' Joey exclaimed.

'On top of that you're so tired you can't keep your eyes open. I think Grandpa's lessons have been a bit too tough for him,' Yugi added, but Joey had already dozed off.

'You see, it's true what they say. You snooze, you loose!' Tristan emphasized that last sentence by screaming.

'Huh?!' Joey opened his eyes and glanced at Tristan, then sighed. 'I must have been nuts to think I could ever learn this crazy game.'

'That's not true Joey. You're doing really well. You're trying your very best to learn this game. You're putting in all your effort, that's admirable you know.' You tried to cheer him up, then took a zip from your water again.

'Thanks Will.' Joey wrapped an arm around you and pulled you closer, water splashed in your face again as he did.

'Joey...' You wiped the water out of your face with the back of your hand, 'What did I just say to you?'

'Uhh...' Joey replied. You raised your glass and threw the water in Joey's face, soaking a part of his white shirt and blue jacket as well. You calmly placed the empty glass on the table and hung back on the couch with a content smile on your face. Joey blinked a few times, obviously not having expected you would actually act on your threat.

'Willow...' He raised a shaking fist in anger.

'Hmm what?' you answered calmly and looked his way. You stared at him for a few seconds, trying to force back laughter, but you couldn't hold it in any longer and started laughing.

'You look ridiculous!' Tears appeared in your eyes. Joey's hair had sunk down a little, so it hang over his ears, water dripping down from every hair end, soaking his blue jeans as well. Water ran down his furious looking face. You thought for sure the water would vaporize by the heat of his anger.

'You better run Willow...' Joey tried to force back his anger by clenching his teeth, but the thick vain on his forehead showed he wasn't doing a very good job hiding it. You stood up from the couch and took a few steps backward. 'Now Joey, calm down, it's just a little bit of water.' You held up your hands defensively. Joey stood up as well, he looked ready to attack you. You took another step backward, then quickly turned around and started running away. Joey grabbed the back leaning of the couch and jumped over it, stopping you in your way out of the living room. He put an arm on your back and tackled you, laying you on the ground instead of throwing you. He bent over you and started tickling.

'Please,' you begged, tears gathering in your eyes from laughing, 'Have mercy!' Little drops of water from Joey's hair fell down on your face.

'Apologize and I'll stop.' Joey continued tickling you.

'I'm sorry! I'm sorry!' you screamed out as your stomach started to hurt from laughing so hard.

He let go of you and his lips formed a content smile as he stood up. He walked back to his seat on the couch and sat down, leaving you lying on the ground.

'It's time for your lesson.' Solomon walked in with a small, brown package under his arm.

'Wha? We're not done?' Joey asked.

'Not by a long shot, you slacker.'

Joey moaned in depression.

'Now quit your whining Joseph, I know you have been working long and hard, but you really are coming along as a duelist and I'm quite proud of you.'

'Gramps... thank you!' Joey got all teary-eyed and stood up on the couch to hug grandpa, unfortunately for him Solomon walked up to Yugi and Joey fell over the edge of the couch. And unfortunately for you, you were still lying there.

'Joey! Watch-' Your warning was cut short by Joey falling on top of you. 'Can't... breathe...' you moaned with much effort. You felt like every bone in your body and your lungs were being crushed by Joey's weight. 'Get off me! Please!' you cried out. Joey lifted his weight off you by placing his hands on the ground next to each side of your head.

'Sorry Will, but then again, you shouldn't be lying here on the ground in the first place. Seriously, why are you lying here?'

You turned your hand into a fist and hit him in the stomach, which made him moan and stumble over to the side. You crawled to your feet and stuck out your tongue at him.

'Yugi, this package came for you today.' Grandpa handed over the brown package to Yugi.

'Package? What is it gramps?' Yugi asked.

'I don't know, it just came in the mail.'

'It's from industrial illusions.' Yugi examined the package.

'Industrial illusions? That's the company that makes the duel monsters game! Why the heck would they be sending a package to you, Yugi?' Joey climbed back onto the couch.

'I have no idea. Is it possible they heard I beat the world champion?' Yugi asked.

'You mean Kaiba?' Tea replied.

'Yeah, it wasn't an official match or anything, but Kaiba did drop out of the tournament because of me.'

'Just hearing Kaiba's name gives me a headache,' Joey said.

'Guys! Raptor just stomped Weevil!' Tristan interrupted, looking at the TV.

'Yugi, these guys any good?' Joey asked.

'Oh yeah, they're both pretty tough customers. Weevil specializes in insect cards and he's a great strategist and then you've got Rex Raptor and his dinosaur cards. He uses their power to overwhelm his opponents,' Yugi explained.

'Itsy bitsy bugs against dinosaurs? Raptor has got this one in the bag.' Joey crossed his arms and lay back on the couch.

'I wouldn't be so sure...'

The tournament on TV continued, for a few moments it looked like Rex Raptor was indeed going to win, but in the end Weevil Underwood won the cup, handed to him by Maximillion Pegasus.

'Wow, king Rex squashed by an insect?' Joey was genuinely amazed.

'With all the excitement of the tournament, you forgot to open your package, Yugi,' grandpa said.

'What could it be?' Yugi wondered out loud. Everyone gathered around him, all curious what was in the package. Yugi opened the cardboard box and discovered a glove, two golden stars and a videotape.

'Some sort of glove,' Tea said.

'And stars,' Joey added.

'Maybe there's an explanation on the videotape,' Tristan suggested.

'Pop it in and check it out,' Joey said.

'Okay.' Yugi grabbed the tape and put it in the VCR. Everyone stared at the TV screen in anticipation. After a few seconds of snow on the TV, Maximillion Pegasus appeared on the screen.

'Greetings, little Yugi. I am Maximillion Pegasus.'

'Pegasus?' Joey asked surprised.

'We just saw him on TV!' Tea added.

'The famous Maximillion Pegasus sends greetings to my Yugi?' Grandpa looked amazed.

'I've heard some terribly interesting things about you, Yugi. Your present defeat of Seto Kaiba has intrigued me so much, I've decided to investigate your amazing dueling skills personally. Right here right now we shall hold a special duel. We'll play with a strict time limit of 15 minutes and when time's up the player with the highest life points will be the winner. Are you ready?' Pegasus tone sounded threatening.

'What?' Yugi replied astonished.

'He can't seriously expect you to fight a duel against a video tape!' Joey exclaimed, 'That's crazy!'

Pegasus let out an ominous laugh and wiped the hair out of his face with his hand, activating his Millennium Eye. 'No! It's magic!'

The feeling that followed next was one that you had never felt before. It was like your body went numb, you couldn't move and everything went cold. It only lasted for a few seconds. When you were able to move again, Yugi was clutched to the TV screen.

'Grandpa!' he yelled, sounding desperate.

'What the hell just happened?' you asked.


	7. Part 7, to Duelist Kingdom

You were shook awake by the irritating bleeping sound of the alarm clock. You turned around on your mattress and let out an annoyed moan. The mattress was so comfortable, your pillow so welcoming, even the itchy blankets didn't seem so bad anymore, but still, the alarm kept bleeping, saying you were supposed to get up. Disagreeing with alarm clock, you hit the snooze button on the top and the bleeping stopped. Yugi was down having breakfast, he wasn't even off to school yet. Since Solomon was gone, there was no one to look after the shop, no one except for you that is. Looking after the shop and helping customers wasn't such a big problem, getting up in the morning was.

Your time of snoozing ended and the alarm clock started bleeping again.

'Shut up!' you complained and buried your head underneath your pillow.

'I think it's trying to tell you something.' Yugi walked into the room and sat down next to you on his bed.

'Oh really, and what exactly is that?' You removed the pillow from your head and looked up at Yugi.

'That you're supposed to get up now,' Yugi said.

'Well duh, it's an alarm clock, but can't it tell me that quietly?' You hit the snooze button again.

'The whole point is you wake up from the noise it makes.' Yugi smiled amused.

'I know,' you moaned.

'Anyway, I'm off to school. You don't necessarily need to open the shop. I mean, if you don't want to stand around behind a counter all day, I understand,' Yugi said.

'That's okay, otherwise I would be hanging around the house all day. Same thing really.' You raised yourself to your knees and rubbed your eyes in a faint attempt to remove the sleep.

Yugi smiled. 'Very well, I'm off to school now, I don't want to be late.' He stood up, smiled and walked downstairs, out of the door.

You sighed and let yourself fall back down on the mattress. Just as you closed your eyes, the alarm went off again. 'Why?' you cried and turned off the clock. You forced yourself to your feet and strolled to the bathroom, to wash and get dressed.

You walked down, almost sleepwalking and went into the kitchen. The table was still set. A clean plate with a knife was put on the table for you. A scale with toast and various sorts of sandwich fillings were laid out in front of you. You just ate one piece of toast since you weren't hungry at all. It was too early in the morning to eat. After you cleared away the table and did the dishes, you went down to open the shop. It was still pretty dark outside since it was only 8 o'clock in the morning. You sat down on the little chair behind the counter and let your head rest on the palm of your hand. Slowly, you dozed off again.

The ringing of the little bell above the door shook you awake. You raised your head from the palm of your hand and looked up to see who it was. A little kid around the age of 12 walked in. It was a boy with short brown hair and a long pony in front which covered up most of his eyes. He wasn't wearing his school uniform, he was just dressed in plain jeans, a dark green shirt and a black jacket. He looked around interested but nervously.

'Can I help you?' you asked.

The boy looked up, with a shocked expression on his face. 'I-I'm just looking around.'

'Okay, just call me when you need me.' You smiled. You figured he was probably ditching school, since it was just a regular school day and he was without parents.

After a few minutes, the little boy had gathered a few cards and lay them in front of you on the counter.

'These five?' you asked, just as formality.

The boy nodded and grabbed a few coins from his pocket and put them on the counter. You counted them and opened the cash desk and grabbed his change.

'Aren't you supposed to be at school?' you asked, before handing him the money.

The boy's head turned a dark shade of crimson and he looked down at the ground. 'Uhm… I…' he mumbled.

'It's okay, don't worry about it.' You laughed. The boy looked up surprised, his color slightly fading. 'Everybody ditches school every once in a while. It's perfectly normal.' You smiled at him and put his card in a little brown bag, sealing it with a piece of transparent tape.

'Really? So you're not gonna call my parents?' the boy asked.

'Of course not. I used to ditch school as well. I always pretended to be ill and my mother would phone the school and call me in sick.' You handed him the bag with his cards.

'That's exactly what I did!' the boy exclaimed and grabbed the bag. 'I just needed to buy these cards for a duel in my school break tomorrow and today I was supposed to go to my grandparents after school so there wouldn't be any time left to buy them.'

'Now you have them.' You smiled. 'Promise me you'll beat your opponent.'

'I promise!' The boy made a little bow, smiled and quickly ran out the shop. 'Thank you! Bye!'

'Kids these days, ditching school to buy trading cards.' You shook your head and smiled amused. You folded your arms on the counter and let your head rest on them, closing your eyes again.

'Good afternoon!' a male voice said, waking you from your daze.

'Hmm?' You looked up with sleepy eyes. The mailman stood in the door opening with a small white envelope in his hand. 'Good afternoon,' you greeted.

He walked up to the counter and handed you the envelope. It was addressed to Yugi. 'Thanks,' you said, examining the envelope.

'Have a nice day!' He walked out the shop again, stepping back on his bike and rode off.

'What an enthusiasm…' you whispered and laid the envelope on the counter. You looked up at the clock. Three o'clock already. Yugi would come home any minute. You sat back on the chair and crossed your arms. A few minutes the door opened and Yugi walked into the shop.

'Good afternoon,' you greeted.

'Hey Willow.' Yugi turned around the little piece of cardboard to close the shop.

'How was school?' you asked.

'Surprisingly boring. Only the breaks were fairly interesting. Kaiba wasn't at school, didn't really surprise me though. ' He threw his schoolbag on the ground and walked up to the counter, leaning against the edge. 'How did it go in the shop?'

'I had one customer. A little boy, about 12 years old. He was ditching school to buy a few cards,' you answered. 'And the mailman came by and handed me an envelope.' You grabbed the envelope and handed it to Yugi. He examined the envelope.

'Let's go up.' Yugi walked up to the stairs with the envelope in his hand.

Yugi sat down on the couch and opened the envelope. You sat down next to him.

'It's from Pegasus,' he said, his interest rising. He took out the content, a few cards, and examined them. 'It's an invitation to Duelist Kingdom.'

'That tournament he announced on TV?' you asked.

Yugi nodded. 'Then I'll be able to get my grandpa back.'

You nodded, not knowing what to say. It remained silent for a moment. Yugi put the cards back into the envelope and stood up.

'May I show you something?' he asked.

'Sure, of course.' You stood up as well.

'It's a place where I go to think, it's really peaceful and quiet.' He walked up to the door and opened it. You followed him back down the stairs and out of the shop. Yugi looked the door behind him.

'This way.' He turned right and crossed the street. You followed him through little alleys and across streets, until you arrived at a staircase. He started walking up the stone steps. You silently moaned at the length of the stairs, but followed him without making a comment.

At the end of the stairs there was a large concrete field with a small building in the center. The field was surrounded by steel fences. It was pretty high up so you could see the entire city below. Yugi walked up to the fence and stared in front of him. You walked up and joined him. You stared at the setting sun and the city below covered in the orange light of the descending sun. The shadows the still bright light created were amazing to see and the sun itself was breathtaking.

'I can see why you like to come up here,' you said.

'It's a good place to think,' he replied.

'Yeah.' You stared at the sun, a whim of sadness came over you.

'Do you remember anything more, or is your memory still blank?' Yugi asked.

'Just a few little things… Things I like, things I don't like. For example, I do not like getting up in the morning. It didn't take long to find that one out.' You smiled.

'It must be difficult, not knowing certain things about yourself. I'm sorry…' Yugi said with sympathy in his voice.

'_I wish I could just forget things in my past,' _you thought. 'That's okay. I'm not really bothered by it. I just see it as a quest of some sort. Each time I discover something else about myself,' you replied.

'Sort of like a puzzle.' Yugi smiled and looked at his Millennium Puzzle.

'Indeed,' you laughed. 'How long did it take you to put that together?' You pointed at his Millennium Puzzle.

'It took me quite some time… It wasn't an easy puzzle I can tell you that.' Yugi held up his puzzle and looked at it.

'It does look complicated.' You smiled and grabbed the fence with your left hand to lean on.

'I've been meaning to ask you,' Yugi said. 'What's that cross on your wrist?' Yugi gestured at your arm. You looked down at your wrist and saw the scar of a Christian cross on it. _'Shit!' _you thought. You let go of the fence and examined the cross. 'I don't know,' you lied.

'You don't remember how you got that scar?' Yugi asked.

'No, I don't.' You stared back in front of you. _'I damn well remember that one. It's there especially so I won't forget.' _

Yugi and you stared at the setting sun and the city for another half an hour, both of you lost in your thought, until Yugi let go of the fence and looked up at you.

'I think we should go back now,' he said.

'Yeah, you're probably right. We still need to eat dinner,' you replied.

You walked back to the game shop and went back up the stairs.

'So what are we going to about dinner?' you asked. Yugi just stared at you. 'Are we going to cook ourselves or are we going to order something?'

'Cook ourselves? What do you suggest we cook then?' he replied.

'I don't know, what are you able to cook?'

'I can bake an egg,' Yugi answered, his face dead serious.

'You can bake an egg…' you repeated him.

His cheeks turned a light shade of crimson at the sarcasm in your remark. 'Well… I'm a teenage guy… How often do I have to cook… I mean… seriously…' he rambled.

'Right…' You raised an eyebrow. 'Just leave the cooking to me then. You just sit back and relax.' You pushed him towards the couch and went into the kitchen.

You opened the fridge and a few cupboards and grabbed some ingredients. You grabbed a few pans and put them on the fire. After about a half an hour, Yugi walked into the kitchen.

'So what's on the menu today, chef?' he asked.

'Spaghetti, with tomato, bolognaise sauce and a salad,' you answered and put the union you had just chopped to pieces in the bowl with lettuce, corn, tomatoes, cucumber and a little garlic. You mixed everything together and poured over some olive oil.

'No eggs?' Yugi asked to joke around.

'What's with the egg fetish?' you exclaimed.

Yugi opened his mouth, ready to say something, but you spoke before he could. 'Never mind, I don't even want to know.' You put the bowl of salad on the table and grabbed two plates, two knifes and two forks and placed them on the table. You turned off the fire and placed the two pans on the table as well. 'Okay, all done.'

'I didn't know you could cook.' Yugi sat down on a chair and looked at the food in amazement.

'Neither did I, but I just followed the instructions on the back of the packages, piece of cake.'

'Yeah, but there is no package with instructions to make such a great salad,' Yugi said, chewing on the bit of salad he had stuffed in his mouth.

'It was in my head, it went automatic.' You shrugged your shoulders and sat down as well. To be perfectly honest, the recipe for that salad was your brother's. He once made that salad and everyone loved it, so you took over the recipe.

After dinner, which, according to Yugi, tasted excellent, you two did the dishes. When that was done, you went up to take a shower and change into your pajama's. Since you were up there looking at the sunset and the city for quite some time, it was already 22.10H.

You put on your blue pajama with brown teddy bears on them, it was more a very super sizes shirt than a pajama really, but it served just fine as pajama. You walked out of the bathroom, into Yugi's room. He had already changed into his pajama. He put his Millennium Puzzle on his desk and sat down on his bed.

'Where did you get those pj's?' Yugi asked, staring at the teddy bears on your pajama.

'Grandpa bought it for me,' you answered. 'Like it?' You twirled around, the pajama twirling around with you. Yugi laughed.

'Sure, I like everything that has teddy bears on them.' Sarcasm could be heard in his voice as he forced back laughter.

'Don't underestimate the power of teddy bears.' You pointed a threatening finger at him and let yourself fall on the mattress.

'I wouldn't dare.' Yugi grabbed his blanket and pulled it over him as he crawled in bed.

You pulled the blankets over you as well and tugged your hands under your pillow.

'Good night,' you said and closed your eyes.

'Good night.'

Two days passed and it was time for Yugi to go to Duelist Kingdom. Yugi dropped you off at Tea's otherwise you would be all by yourself, and he took off.

You sat down on the couch next to Tea and just when you were about to say something, the doorbell rang. Tea stood up and disappeared into the hallway. You heard the door open. Tea walked back into the living room, followed by Tristan.

'Hey,' you greeted him.

'Hey Will, you're here as well?' he asked.

'Yeah, otherwise I'd be all alone in the Game Shop,' you answered.

Tristan said down opposite you and Tea and folded his hands under his head.

'So what's the plan?' you asked.

'What plan?' Tea looked confused.

'Well, we're not letting Yugi go all by himself, are we?' you explained.

'Of course not!' Tristan exclaimed. 'Joey already went after him and I vote we climb onto board as well.'

'You have my vote.' You raised your hand.

'I'm in as well.' Tea nodded.

'Well, what are we waiting for? Let's go!' Tristan stood up and stormed out of the living room.

'Does he even know where to go?' you asked Tea and laughed.

'Probably not. ' Tea stood up and you two followed Tristan out of the house. Outside you found Tristan on the sidewalk, looking around.

'Tristan, what are you doing?' you asked.

'I'm guessing which way we should go,' he answered.

'To the harbor perhaps?' you said.

'Excellent idea!' He took a left and started walking.

'Tristan!' Tea yelled, 'The harbor is that way.' She pointed to the right.

'Right, I knew that.' Tristan walked back the other way.

'How do you suggest we get up there?' you asked, looking at the enormous ship in front of you.

'We crawl in one of those crates that are getting loaded on the ship.' Tristan pointed at the crates in front of you. 'Ready?' he asked looking at you and Tea. 'Okay, now!' Tristan ran towards a still open crate when the guys loading them weren't looking. You and Tea followed him and climbed into the crate. The top was put on and the crate was lifted.

'Whoa!' Tea yelled as the crate was put down on the ship.

'Sshh!' Tristan held a finger in front of his mouth.

'Don't you shush me, Tristan!' Tea said offended.

'Pipe down!' Tristan warned.

'Do you think we can crawl out yet?' you asked, listening to the noise of activity outside. Tristan carefully pried open the top of the crate and peeked out.

'I don't see anyone.' He pulled off the top and climbed out. You and Tea followed him outside. You squatted down behind a few other crates and Tristan pulled the top back onto the crate.

'Look!' You pointed, 'There's Joey and Yugi.'

You saw Mai Valentine walk up to Yugi and Joey and overheard the conversation they had.

'I'll crush you all eventually,' Mai said as she walked away.

'How arrogant! There's nobody better at playing duel monsters than Yugi!' Tea exclaimed.

'Sshh! Quiet, they'll hear you!' Tristan said.

'I don't care! He's still the best.' Tea said.

'We know, but you don't need to inform the rest of the ship,' you whispered.

Twenty minutes passed with you three just sitting behind the crates.

'Anyone know a good song?' you asked bored. Tea stood up to look around.

'Hey! Tea! Stay down or we'll all get busted!' Tristan exclaimed.

'But it's freezing out here, I can't sit still,' Tea retorted.

'I second that opinion.' You stood up as well.

'Then you should have put on clothes,' Tristan said.

'I did!' you yelled.

'Sshh!' Tristan hushed again.

'I just don't have anything else than tank tops.'

Tristan laughed. 'In another few hours the sun will rise.'

'Yeah, that'll help,' you said sarcastic.

'That's not funny Tristan!' Tea raised a fist.

'Get down!' Tristan said when a door opened. You and Tea ducked back behind the crates again.

'Look,' Tea said, 'Isn't that Bakura?'

'Bakura? You mean Bakura from school?' Tristan asked who was on the other side of the crates, not able to see who came out of the door. Tea crawled towards Tristan.

'What do you think he's doing here?' Tea asked.

'Uhh…' Tristan put on his thinking face, 'I guess he's in the tournament.'

'No shit, Sherlock,' you said. 'Who is Bakura by the way?'

'A boy who goes to school with us,' Tea answered.

'Say goodbye to Exodia!' You heard a voice in the distance scream.

'Did you guys hear that?' you asked.

'Yeah, sounds like trouble.' Tristan stood up and walked towards the edge. You and Tea ran up as well.

'Look!' You pointed at Yugi, jumping over the edge, into the water.

'Quickly, grab a ladder or something!' Tea yelled.

Tristan ran back behind the crates and opened one. 'Nothing here.' He opened another one and duck in. He ran back up to the edge with a rope ladder.

'Yugi! Are you alright?' Tea yelled down as Tristan threw down the ladder.

Yugi and Joey swum towards the ladder and climbed up. You pulled them over the edge back onto the deck.

'That was close!' Yugi said panting. 'I'm sure glad you guys showed up.'

'We're a team. We all stick together,' Tea answered.

'We'll always watch your back,' Tristan added.

'Thanks a lot you guys.' Yugi smiled.

'I'm sorry Yugi.' Joey was sitting on his knees, his head down. 'I failed, I only found two of your cards.'

'It's okay Joey,' Yugi comforted him.

'It's not okay. It's always this way with me. I'm never able to help anybody. Not even my own sister Serenity.'

'Serenity?' Yugi asked surprised.

'Really? You have a sister Joey?' Tea asked.

'Our parents divorced years ago, when we were kids. She lives far away with my mother. My sister's had really bad eyes ever since she was born. Eventually she'll go blind.'

'I'm sorry,' Yugi said.

'Thanks Yug, she sent me a message, the doctors told her that the time has come. Soon her eyes will be impossible to repair even with surgery. But there are specialists who could perform an operation now before it's too late. They could save her eyesight. But there's no way I could pay for the operation. I have to win! For her! Winning in the duelist kingdom and getting the prize money is the only way I can help Serenity.' Tears gathered in his eyes.

'We'll both do our best Joey. You for your sister and me for my grandpa,' Yugi said as the sun was rising.

'That's right, we'll do this together,' Tea said.

'Look, the island!' Tristan said.

'That's the duelist kingdom. That's it, we're almost there.' Yugi stared at the island.

'How about that, having your own island…' you said. Everyone turned to face you. 'What?' you said offended. 'Just imagine, an island of your own.'

'I'd fill mine with restaurants and all kinds of fast food places like McDonalds and Burger King,' Tristan said, drooling.

'I'm sure you would.'


	8. Part 8, Yami VS Weevil

The ship arrived at the dock and all the duelists are told to get in line to get off the ship.

'Wow, check out the suits,' Joey said, looking down from the ledge.

'Tea, Willow, what if one of those security guys finds out we're all stollaways? We ought to just play it safe and swim back,' Tristan said with a nervous look on his face.

'We're in the middle of nowhere lamebrain, if you just try to act normal, we'll be okay,' Tea yelled. You followed the other duelists down the ramp.

'Ey you!' A guy in a suit yelled at Tristan as he walked down the ramp. Tristan froze and didn't turn around it. 'Don't look so nervous. you guys are our guests here.'

'That's right!' Tristan turned around and bowed. 'Guests.' He quickly turned around and ran away towards you and the others.

'Smooth, very smooth,' you said.

'I think I just had a heart attack,' Tristan said panting.

'Way to play it cool Tristan. That wasn't suspicious at all,' Tea said with sarcasm.

'Alright!' Joey yelled, 'Every single one of us made it here and-' Joey breathed in deep as if he was going to sneeze. 'Ha-ha HATCHOO!!' He sneezed in Tea's direction.

'Ieuwl!' Tea quickly stepped to the side.

'That's disgusting,' you added.

'You would never have cought that cold if it wasn't for Weevil,' Yugi said.

'Speaking of our wormy friend, he just slippered his way off the boat and is already looking to start some trouble. That slimeball, I'd love to wipe that smirk off his face.' Joey looked over at Weevil who had an evil little smile on his face.

'That's Weevil?' you asked.

Joey and Yugi nodded.

'He's not very... tall...' you said.

'Welcom all duelists,' Kemo, one of Pegasus's men said, 'Please follow the stairs to meet your host.'

'That castle has gotta belong to Pegasus.' Yugi stared at the castle with a serious look on his face.

'What are we waiting for?' Joey started making his way to the stairs.

'Ridiculous,' you mumbled.

'What is?' Tea asked.

'The length of the stairs.'

Tea looked up at the stairs and judging by the look on the face, she was thinking the same thing as you, "no stairs should be that ridiculously long"

You followed after Joey to the stairs and started making your way up. Halfway up the stairs Tea looked to the left to the forest. 'What's that?' She pointed. Everyone stopped and turned their attention to the direction Tea pointed.

'What do you see Tea?' Yugi asked.

'It looked like Bakura,' she replied.

'Bakura? From school?' Yugi asked and looked towards the trees.

'Again with this Bakura stuff?' Tristan said.

'Where is he, Tea?' Joey asked.

'I don't see anyone...' you added.

'That's two times that I've seen him now, but he's not there anymore. Maybe it's all in my head.'

'Come on, we're on a rescue mission, remember?' Tristan said and returned to climbing the stairs.

You glanced to the trees one more time, since you knew he would show up again. Bakura emerged from between the trees and glanced up. You smiled and quickly looked forward again and ran after your friends.

You arrived at the top of the stairs and looked around, it was packed with duelists. Everyone was talking among themselves, noticing the presence of top rank duelists such as Weevil, Raptor and Mako and noticing the absence of the champion, Seto Kaiba. Yugi blushed as they mentioned his name as well.

'Attention, please gather around. Your benevolent host is anxious to greet you all.' Kemo spoke and the talking seized.

'Boy, would I like to get just five minutes alone with that guy.' Joey made a fist of his hand.

Pegasus appeared on the balcony, dressed in red. He had a ominous smile on his face. 'Greetings duelists, I am Maximillion Pegasus. It is my great honor and pleasure to welcome you all to the Duelist Kingdom. You stand before me, the world's greatest duelists, but when the tournament ends, only one shall be crowned King of Games. I will warn you all to assemble your dueling decks with care, with creativity and with cunning. For this competition will test your skills like never before. To track your progress in the tournament, you've each been given a dueling glove, you've also been given two precious star chips. You must wager these star chips in each duel you compete in. To advance to the final level of the competition for a chance at the three million dollar prize, you must win ten star chips. Ten star chips will admit you to my castle where you'll face me in one final duel. This will be a tournament unlike anything you have ever experienced. State of the art dueling arenas cover this entire island and intriguing new dueling rules will be in affect. I can tell you what these new rules are, but what fun would that be? You'll discover them as you compete or you won't last very long. Remember, play boldly, think strategically and duel mercilessly. You have one full hour to prepare both your cards and yourself. When the skies light up with fireworks, the duels will begin. ' Pegasus went back into his castle.

'_His mouth kept on moving, but all I heard was blah blah blah,' _you thought.

'What are we waiting for?' you said. 'Let's find a quiet place to prepare ourselves, or well, not me, Tea and Tristan of course...'

'You're right, let's go!' Joey wrapped his arm around your shoulders and pulled you back down the stairs.

'Joey, this isn't very comfortable walking...' you said when you were half way down the stairs.

'What are you talking about? I see no discomfort,' he replied.

'Yeah, that's because you're leaning on me.' His weight on your shoulders almost pushed you down the stairs. 'I tell you what, if you remove your arm, I'll race you down the stairs.'

'You'll never win against me.' Joey removed his arm.

'Scared?' you asked.

'No way!' Joey placed himself in a start position. You followed his lead and did the same.

'Three, two, one, GO!' you yelled and Joey took off, running down the stairs as fast as he could without tripping.

'I thought you were racing,' Tea said.

'Yeah, so did he,' you answered and smiled. You proceeded your way down nice and calm.

'I win!' Joey exclaimed when he reached the last step. 'Wooh!'

'How long will it take for him to find out he was racing alone?' you asked Tea and looked down at Joey dancing around and cheering.

'A few more seconds...' she said, waiting for it.

Joey looked around, probably wondering where you were, then he looked up. You waved at him as you calmly descended further down the stairs.

'I thought we were racing!' Joey exclaimed, almost entirely out of breath when you reached the bottom of the stair.

'Yeah I know that's what you thought.' Your lips formed an amused smile.

'Willow!' he exclaimed with clenched teeth and raised a fist. 'You better run!'

'Nah, I don't need to, you're out of breath anyway. Seriously, what were you thinking, running down those stairs.'

'Maybe you should run,' Tristan suggested, looking at Joey who was boiling with anger.

'Maybe you're right.' You smiled and took a few steps backwards. Joey took a few steps forward. You turned around and ran a few meters, then looked around to see if he was following you. 'Shit!' you exclaimed as you saw he was coming after you and started running faster. You ran through the forest on a little sand path which ended in a large grass field. You stopped to catch your breath. 'Ey!' you yelled at the rest behind you, 'this might be a good place to-.' You were interrupted by Joey tackling you down on to the grass.

'Apologize!' Joey said, sitting on top of you and was totally out of breath now.

'Nah,' you shook your head.

'I'll tickle you!' he threatened.

'This scenery looks vaguely familiar,' you said. 'Joey, you're losing your originality.'

'You want something original then?' He ripped a hand full of grass from the field. 'Open your mouth.' He held the grass in front of your mouth, trying to push it inside.

'No!' you laughed and tried to push his hand away. 'Get away from me!'

'Apologize, or eat grass!' He pushed the grass onto your mouth. You chuckled at the feeling of haulms of grass in your mouth.

'I'm sorry!' you yelled and laughed. 'I don't like grass.' You chuckled as Joey stood up and let the grass fall on your face. You sat up and saw Yugi and the others had arrived.

'He tickle you again?' Tea asked and offered you her hand.

'No.' Tea pulled you to your feet. 'He tried to make me eat grass.'

'That's gross.' She wiped some haulms of grass of your shirt.

'Yugi,' Joey started, suddenly all serious again, 'I don't know if I can win this thing, maybe it'd be best for you to take your star chip back.'

'No, you keep it Joey. Your little sister is counting on you to win the prize money for her,' Yugi replied.

'Thanks man!' Joey closed his hand with the star chip in it.

'You can do it. You just gotta stay clear from the more experienced duelists at first,' Tea encouraged him.

'Yeah, it's just a matter of working your way up,' Tristan agreed.

'Thanks you guys,' Joey replied, 'Well Yugi, between your grandpa and my sister we don't have any room for mistakes.'

'Right.' Yugi nodded.

'Look!' you pointed at the sky.

'The fireworks, it's started,' Tea said.

'Let's do it!'

'So, what's your plan Yugi?' Joey asked as you were walking around on the island.

'I might as well stick with Weevil. After all, we do have a score to settle.'

'I was hoping you'd say that.'

'Isn't that him?' Tea asked, looking straight ahead.

'140 cm, ugly jacket, weird glasses, yeah no doubt,' you replied.

'Weevil!' Yugi exclaimed, 'Weevil! I challenge you to a duel!'

'Hey wait!' Tristan yelled as Weevil turned around and ran into the woods.

'I can't believe it, Weevil's running away!' Joey said. 'Ey! Wait up!' You all quickly followed Yugi as he ran after Weevil.

'Welcome, said the spider to the fly. You flew right into my trap!' Weevil pointed a finger at Yugi when he had stopped running.

'It's time you answer for what you did on the boat Weevil!' Yugi said and his Millennium Puzzle activated.

'Alright Weevil, it's time to find out if you're as good in dueling as you are at running away,' Yami said.

'Was I simply running away or cleverly leading you into my web?'

'It's time to duel!' Yami paid no attention to Weevil's remark.

Weevil started to laugh. 'As you wish!' he yelled and the ground started shaking.

'Whoa, the entire ground in transforming!' Tristan yelled as the ground opened and a dueling arena emerged from it. Weevil and Yami entered the platforms and they were raised. Weevil wagered two star chips and Yami wagered his one star chip plus his entire deck. The duel began. Several other duelists gathered around to watch the match between Yugi and Weevil. Weevil began the duel with a killer bee card and Yami countered it with mammoth graveyard, which got defeated. Then Weevil explained about the field power bonus. Yami soon got the hang of the field power bonus and countered back with some pretty good moves. Weevil summoned his moth and Yami defeated it with Summoned Skull, since the field was damp. Weevil is defeated.

'But I'm the regional champion!' Weevil retorted, sitting on his knees.

'You call yourself a champion Weevil, but you only won your duels by lying and cheating. True champions, they play with honor,' Yami replied, throwing up the star chips he's won. 'They play fair.'

'Don't waste your breath on this sneaky slug. He's a dueling disgrace and I hereby relieve him of his dueling gauntlet.' Joey pulled off Weevil's dueling glove.


End file.
